She is called Amelia!

Hi Bloggers

For as long as I remember, I have always wanted to make a rag doll.  Over the years I have collected patterns, how-to sheets, pictures, but never actually got round to the actual making of it. 

Until now that is ...

A couple of weeks ago I went to a ragdoll workshop run by Nicola at Halfpenny Home.  For those of you in the local area, you must visit this shop - it's an 'Aladdin's Cave' for crafters.  At an evening class I sat down with some fellow crafters to make a rag doll, expertly guided by Nicola. 

I also made Amelia's clothes and her hair is made from embroidery thread.  Making the clothes was like transporting myself back in time.  I became interested sewing when my Grandmother helped me make clothes for my dolls.  Sewing the skirt especially, I could have been 9 years old all over again.

I am very pleased with my efforts, since then I have also adjusted the pattern and made a boy rag doll for my son - I will supply a picture soon - it has no hair at the moment!

Watch this space for further developments.  I am planning a really fancy dress for Amelia.

Until next time
Happy Crafting!

Sleigh bells ring ...

Hi Bloggers

I know we are still in Summer, but as I am sure any serious crafter would agree, early preparation is the key and I have started making my Christmas cards.

I have got some seriously lovely stamps and I might just have to blog some more of the cards I have made to share the stamps I have been using.

The main stamps I have used in these two cards come from a company called Chocolate Baroque.  The poinsettia card is made using a stamp from a set called Christmas Creatures (not the sentiment stamp) and the tree and flowers are from a set called Steampunk Christmas.  They are unmounted rubber stamps that produce the most wonderful images.

If you want further inspiration, please check out the Chocolate Baroque website.  As well as being able to buy this great stamps and other craft supplies, they have some wonderful blogs to take inspiration from.

One of the things I love about making Christmas cards especially is that you can really go to town with glitter. 

Using a quickie glue pen, on the poinsettia card I have glittered the centre of the flower, the Christmas star and the word 'magic', and on the tree card I have gone round all the cogs with glitter.  Hard to see in the photo, but the tree really sparkles.  I stamped the tree using my Big n Juicy inkpad to get the different colours.

Look out for my next designs.

Until next time,
Happy Crafting!

Happiness is ... final part

Hi Bloggers

The top of my box

It's been too long ... but I have been busy.

My Happiness is box is finally finished, I am really pleased with it. 

The box of co-ordinating papers, stickers and embellishments that I found worked really well.  It took all the hassle of colour matching out of the equation for me.

I covered all sides and the inside, and have made some little decorative card pieces on which to write what Happiness means to me.   I found some little hooks to screw on the inside of the lid (you can't see them because I did this bit after I took the photo).  The card pieces will hang on these.


The Front

I covered the box with a layer of Modge Podge matte medium which really helped all the stickers and embellishments to lie flat and gave the box a finished look.

Inside

This project will continue to be ongoing because I will always be adding to my Happiness is list.  It sits open in full view so that at any time I can see what happiness means to me.  I have really loved doing this project.   I did get a bit carried away with the photos!


One side

I'd love to hear what projects you have been doing.  Leave a comment below.

Until next time
Happy Crafting.



Other side

Happiness Is ... part 2

Hi Bloggers

My 'Happiness Is' project is well on its way.

In this picture I have started by colouring the box.  I have used weathered wood and vintage photo distress stains along with victorian velvet distress ink pad to colour just round the edges.  I am covering the majority of the box with patterned paper so you will just see the edges of the box.  I have done this on the top and all four sides, removing the catch and hinges before I did so.

The distress stain works really well in colouring the wood but also bringing out the grain of the wood.  A useful tip to remember when you are using this sort of medium.  It will give a different effect on a paper mache box.  Being a very wet ink, it did bleed into the wood quite a bit but I think putting masking tape on the edges of the box stopped it from bleeding into the edges.  This week I have been decorating the box and making my Happiness Is signs. 

Keep on watching for how the box looks when I have finished the decoration.

Until next time
Happy Crafting!

Happiness Is ...

Hi Bloggers

I am doing another project.  This one is called Happiness Is ... and it is all about what happiness means to me and what makes me happy.   I am following an online course run by Jeri Parks, the creator of  My Creative Classroom, the course is 4 weeks long and she demonstrates three different projects to help inspire you. 

I am now in week 2.  The first week was spent making a list of what makes me happy.  I have quite a few things on my list, here are just a few:

• first buds of spring
• watching movies with my son
• the snowball tree in full bloom
• making things
• family gatherings
• sharing stories with my son.

In the first week we are also encouraged to chose how we want to display our list and what materials we might need.  At first I chose to make an explosion box, but now I have decided on a wooden box.
This coming week I plan to start decorating and then will being displaying my list. 

I don't want to give too much away yet, but I have chosen my colours and my decorative papers.  What I have found really helpful is to chose co-ordinating papers and stickers.  Have you ever bought one of those scrapbooking sets that has everything - papers, stickers, letters, ribbon, embellishments that all co-ordinate together.  Well I can confirm this is an excellent place to start.  Especially if you are not sure how to co-ordinate colours or find you spend too long chosing what to use out of your craft stash.

Keep checking my blog to find out how I get on.

Until next time,
Happy Crafting!

Less IS More!

Hi Bloggers

As ever, I have been looking for different styles to try in cardmaking.  One that I have struggled with in the past is what I like to call the 'minimalist look'. 

I have often admired cardmakers who manage to make simple cards look stylish so I decided to bite the bullet and have a go myself. 

I am pleased with the results.  These cards were made with exam results time in mind.  The trick is to practise your layouts.  I actually cut pieces of copy paper into A6 size (which was my desired size of card) and practised how the layout would look.  Doing this gave me a lot of confidence when I actually stamped on the card.  And then resist the urge to use matting and layering.  Believe me, I had to almost sit on my hands to restrict myself to one layer!

Another tip is to practise with the ink pads you are intending to use on the cardstock itself.  Yes, this may mean wasting a card but it could save you a lot of binned cards in the long run if the ink you are using starts to bleed into the cardstock.  I have to say, good old Versa Mark came up trumps!

Please leave your comments below, I would love to hear from you.

Until next time,
Happy Crafting!

 

All Things Brayer!

Hi Bloggers

One of the aspects I love about Barbara Gray's work is her scene building.  She uses a speedball brayer and adirondack ink pads to create scenes.  I have been practising quite a bit - her DVDs are a great help with this - and these are the results I have had. 

In both pictures I used the Big n Juicy ink pads which I don't believe are available any more.  But the colours and same inks are available from the adirondack ink pads (they are produced by the same company).

One thing I have learned is that underneath your piece of card, the surface must be completely smooth and free from bumps, however tiny.  If it's not the brayer will pick up every little tiny bump and translate it into a mark on your card.  See if you can spot such a bump in the picture below.  I like to think of it as a bird in the distance!

Have you tried this type of scene building before?  I would love to know your results.  Pop in a comment below.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Clarity Pattern Building

Hi Bloggers

I have finally taken some more time to delve into my Clarity DVDs.  If you haven't heard of Barbara Gray or Clarity Stamps you have really been missing something. I urge you to go to her website and check out all things Clarity.  She is a major craft inspiration for me.

I have been practicing pattern building with some very lovely results.  Both stamps used for these techniques were corner stamps.  They are easy to do, it just takes a little bit of patience getting the positioning right but being able to see through the handle takes a lot of the work out of making these patterns. 

Have you got any Clarity stamps?  Do you use them regularly?  Or do they languish in that "I must get round to playing with them some time" place? 

Here's a tip - the time of "must get round to" never comes round unless you make it!  Believe me I speak from experience!  Just take some copy paper, one stamp pad and have a play.  Before you know where you are you will have ideas for cards.  Trust me, I did and you can see the results for yourselves.

Enjoy! 
Until next time,
Happy Crafting!

ps. Don't forget to jump over to my new website and have a look, I'd love to know what you think?

New Website

Hi Bloggers

There has been a time gap and I am deeply sorry :(

My website has taken some time to put together but it is looking very lovely and I want you all to take a look.  You can find it by clicking here.

It is all about my passion for CREATIVITY.  I love that word!  I love to be creative and I love to create, but I also love to explore what makes a person creative and is it something that can be learned or are we just 'born that way' (I disagree with that by the way!)

Anyway enjoy my new website.  It is very much a work in progress and you will see changes from time to time as I get to grips with Wordpress and website techniques. 

I will continue to create my own little masterpieces and you will always be able to find something crafty here to inspire you!

Until next time,
Happy Crafting!

Vintage Drawers!



After

Hi Bloggers

I wanted to do something other than a card this time.  I have done some boxes before as you will have seen in a previous post, but I wanted to go one step further.  So ... inspired by an article in the Craft Stamper, I decided to try my hand at something a little bit vintage.
I started with a completely blank box and painted it with a wicker white acrylic paint.  I used a buttons masking template to emboss on to background card and them found some vintage looking paper and stamped images from Joanna Sheen's Haberdashery stamp set and Creative Expressions Antique Dress Forms stamp set. 


Before

I used Distress Inks aged mahogany for the stamping and then around the edges of the images to give them a distressed look.  I have also sponged the edges of the box and drawers with aged mahogany. 

I am really pleased with how it turned out, although I did have to smile when my son asked me if I wanted my box to look all 'messed up'.  He is learning about packaging at school at the moment and I had to explain that the 'messed up' look was called vintage!

Let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

A little bit of Clarity on the Water

Hi Bloggers

Ever heard of Clarity Stamps?  They are hugely inspirational and I have been taking a few lessons in using them from the very helpful range of DVDs that the creator, Barbara Gray has made.  The website is www.claritystamp.co.uk and is well worth a look.

The first DVD shows a technique to create water and I have tried it out using these stamps.  What do you think?

The technique is not that hard to master, all it takes is a bit of practice to get it how you want it and then you are away. 

I made the card with the ship by rolling the 'water' on first and using a piece of copy paper to cover the top half of the card.  I then stamped the castle on the horizon and placed a circle post-it for the moon and used the brayering technique to get the night sky.  The blue ink I used for both the water and the night sky was Adirondack Stonewashed.

The card with the little boy fishing with his dog, I used the reflection techinque taught by Barbara using the brayer.  Basically you ink up your stamp and roll your brayer very carefully over the stamp to transfer the image onto the brayer.  You then roll the brayer on the bottom half of your card to create the reflection. 

It looks pretty cool, don't you think?

Now I have the Clarity 'bug', you will be seeing some more cards and perhaps boxes using Barbara's techniques. 

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Time - Gap

Hi Bloggers

Just want to say sorry for the time-gap. 

There has been a delay in between this and my last post.  I have been busy creating a website and learning as I go along and that is taking more time than I anticipated.   The new website is all about creativity, inspiration with fun tips and techniques and loads more. 

The great news is my website is taking shape and I am hugely excited about it.  I hope to announce the launch very soon.  I am tempted to give myself a deadline but I am too chicken. 

I will, however, keep you posted (excuse the very lame pun!) on this blog about my progress. 

Thanks for your patience.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting

Steam Punk meets Floral

Hi Bloggers,

I am loving my steam punk stamps and I decided to try my hand at combining them with floral papers.  As luck would have it, there were some lovely free papers in June's edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft and this is what I have come up with.
I hope you like them.  Again simple layouts.  I have stamped on papers from the coordinated range.  The sentiments to come from the same Creative Expressions stamps.  With the large stamp of the couture model with wings I made sure that stamp was mounted on EZ mount foam.  It makes it much easier to get a good impression.

The flower on the top left card I made by stamping on some of the patterned paper in two different sizes of flower stamp (still from the same steam punk range).  Hope you enjoy these cards, if you do, please leave a comment.  I would love to know your thoughts. 
Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Jubilee Time

Hi Bloggers,

How are you?  I am loving the change in the weather, at last I can take the thick blanket off my bed and stop stoking the coal burner.
Long may it continue ... although being a bit of a gardener (and the amount of time I have spent in my garden lately qualifies me as only a 'bit') it would be nice if it rained, but only between the hours of 2am and 6am!  Yeah, well, I can hope I suppose.

So being as the Jubilee weekend is fast approaching I wanted to make a few Jubilee themed cards.  These ones were all made with free papers from Simply Homemade, Issue 17.

I have kept the designs simple and apart from a bit of ribbon here and there have not used much from my own stash.  With the exception of the patchwork card.  I have some stitches stamps and I got that effect by choosing 4 different papers, making 3cm squares and glueing them on a piece of navy blue card.  Then, using a denim colour ink I stamped the stitches on them, just to show that you don't have to have a sewing machine.  I think the Xs look really authentic.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Gift Card Pockets

Hi Bloggers,

How are you?  In this blog I have created cards which have a pocket made to fit a gift card. 

It is a useful way of giving something small like a gift card in something a little bit more decorative and personal than the cards and envelopes that most shops supply free. 

The pockets are made to measure. Useful for the varing sizes of gift cards you can get!

All you have to do is add 1.5 cm to the sides and the bottom edge of your piece of card, scoring at 1cm and 1.5 cm on each of these three sides to make the pocket shape. Use a circular punch to punch a semi-circle at the top to give it the ultimate pocket feel.

I have made the backgrounds using two and three coordinating pigment inks with a spong, blending the colours in.  Ranger's Distress Inks are the best for this - although I did use some colours from the Mountain Meadow Big and Juicy stamp pad as well. Then I used a darker ink for the stamping.  Stamp sets (I have used Creative Expressions and Tim Holtz for these cards) are best for this type of card as you get a range of images that go together in a theme.  The backgrounds were made up of three randomly stamped images from the sets. 

From the same stamp sets I have taken one image and a sentiment and stamped that on another piece of card and cut it out.  I have also used a piece of card coloured and stamped in the same way as the pocket and matted that onto a piece of card to bring out the colours. 

I think it makes for a very decorative way or giving a small gift.

Until next time

Happy crafting!

Postage Saving Cards

Hi Bloggers

How are you?  I cannot believe I wrote my last post when it was wet and dreary and it's still wet and dreary and ... something is eating my bluebells! 

I suspect there may be a cheeky monk jack deer getting into my garden, I've had the flower heads of my blubells plus some tulips and the top bud on a small conker tree bitten off.  I thought it might be the rabbits, but I suspect even the conker tree, small though it is is too tall for them.   I've seen the monk jack deer once in my garden and I suspect when my beloved dog Molly was alive she used to keep it away.  But now it's a free for all!  Best I don't even attempt to grow vegetables until I have secured all the fences! 

Anyway ... today's post is all about postage saving cards.  Any avid cardmaker out there will know the benefits of adding dimension to cards to give them that 3D look.  But that also increases the postage costs.  So I have tried another tactic.  I have a good range of My Craft Studio CDs.  If anyone hasn't tried these, I suggest you give them a go. 

It is possible to create flat dimension - and that's not a contradiction in terms I promise you!   Above you will see my first attempts.  The newer editions of My Craft Studio CDs allow you to add shadows to your images and many of the images on the CDs look pretty 3D anyway.  You can layer up your cards in the same way as normal but when you print it out all you have is one image on a flat sheet.

I wonder if this could be the way to go for cardmakers who make and sell their cards especially in light of Royal Mail's attempts to fleece us all with their postal charges.  I know the cost of sending a card even at the large letter rate is still far and away cheaper than taking it to its destination yourself.  But how many times above the rate of inflation was their increase this time? 

What do you think of these cards?  I'm always happy to hear comments.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Artist Date

Hi Bloggers

How are things?  I sit at my computer on this rainy Sunday and wonder if the rain will ever stop.  I live in the region which is part of the drought area.  And I look outside: everything is lush and green and very, very wet.  My lawn has become a meadow and my lawnmower cowers in the garage terrified of the grass it knows it will have to cut, should the rain ever stop! 

But ... I am excited and hopeful ... my bluebells have come up stronger than ever and are on the verge of flowering (mine are always late bloomers!).   All they need is a bit of sunshine.  Surely the rain must stop soon and then the sun will come out and there will be a brilliant splash of blue in my garden.

Anyway, I ramble ...

The purpose of the post today was to talk about Artist Dates - I have updated the Tips and Techniques page with an Artist Date as my tip this week.  And I am also going to challenge myself to undertake one too - every week.  I will devote a separate page to my weekly Artist Dates with what I did, where I went etc and of course a photo. 

Keep an eye out bloggers for updates on the Artist Date page.  If you want to know more about Artist Dates and indeed developing your creative side, read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting.

Flower Mini Book

Hi there! 

This is my first mini book! 

I love notebooks and would happily collect multitudes of them.  I have always been attracted to making mini-books using stamps and papers but have never actually got round to making one. 
Recently I have set myself the task of learning one new craft project a week to improve my crafting skills and broaden my crafting horizons.  The grunge / distressed look with all it's 'random-ness' has always appealed to me but remained outside my comfort zone. 

Well, it all came together very nicely for this mini-book (bloggers I hope you agree!?).  I sat down at 6.30pm and started and by 8.30pm I was more or less finished. 

The cover is made from 2 pieces of cream card that has been coloured with distress inks and embellished with pen ink, white acrylic paint and gold metallic ink.  The pages are made from DL envelopes sealed and cut in half and the inserts are pieces of cream card.  I made holes for the string to go through with my Crop-a-dile.

If anyone is interested in how to make one, please leave a comment and I will post a description of the process I took.  There are quite a few steps and some readers may lose the will after step 10!  Alternatively you can find the instructions that I followed in the June 2011 edition of Craft Stamper magazine (one of my favourite reads) on pages 8 - 11.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Vintage Tea Party

Hi there!

This is just a quick note to let you know how much was raised at the Vintage Tea Party at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket on 30th March:

An amazing £2490!

Well done to Emily Pike and all her helpers!

Until next time

Happy Crafting!

Boys to Men!

 
Hi bloggers

I have taken a short course to help me find inspiring designs for boys and men's cards.  Why are they such a trickly genre to make interesting and individual cards for.  I suppose it doesn't help that you can't embellish your card with bows and gems and lace and flowers and stuff! 

The course I am taking is online with My Creative Classroom http://www.mycreativeclassroom.com/.  They have all different courses and if you want help learning new techniques or just some inspiration it is definitely worth a 'google'. 

So I have been sent some sketches, which are line drawings of card layouts that show how to lay out your card to get a good balance.  I have kept my interpretation of the sketches quite simple. 

Another confession here ... as much as I want to try new techniques ... there's this little gremlin in my head that keeps putting off getting started (the same gremlin that is probably quite convinced I will make a total hash of it all!). 

But I have had a good few hours making some boy's cards using the sketches and lesson inspiration that they supply you with.  I even re-discovered some papers that haven't been used in years.  And I have learned a very important lesson too, which is: don't listen to that stupid gremlin in your head - just get stuck in!

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Down the Rabbit Hole!

Hi Bloggers,

I definitely went down the rabbit hole with these cards and they were such fun.  I have a CD rom from My Craft Studio with oodles of Alice in Wonderland images on and I just had to let loose and make these. 

I have to confess these are not a recent make, I made them about three weeks ago in preparation of the Vintage Tea Party on Friday 30th March - I thought the theme was quite apt as they do have a vintage look about them.

Just to update you all ... the Vintage Tea Party when pretty well.  I didn't have many sales but I did have lots of interest.  So it's a start and I feel encouraged that people wanted to have a look instead of a quick glance and just walking away. 

I do have to work on my 'sales patter' though.  Nothing heavy, but I must try to engage people in conversation - my shyness is not helping me in this area.  I also met a friend there who also had a stall and we set up next to each other so I had someone to chat with.  The venue was packed - it was definitely a popular event.  At the time of writing I don't know how much was raised for Cancer Research but I will try to find out and let you know.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting x

My first boxes!

 Hello again,

These are the boxes I decorated for the craft event.  I found it quite tricky to photograph them.  If anyone has any tips for photographing boxes please let me know!

They were all wooden boxes that I bought from QD, I used acrylic paints and emulsion match pots - either seemed to work really well, but I needed to put two coats on.

The decoration was from stickers I had in my stash - stickers that haven't seen the light of day for some time.  In fact I used to look at them and wonder what I was going to do with them.  So it really does pay not to throw things away - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Once I painted and decorated them, I applied a coat of varnish, this helped to seal on the stickers and give the boxes a nice smooth finish.  I have lined them all with co-ordinating felt. 

One thing I discovered was that painting a few boxes at a time works better than just doing one because you can keep painting as there is time to allow the coats of paint to dry as you go from box to box. 

I hope you like them.  I certainly enjoyed making them.  I wonder what the visitors to the craft event will think?

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Cars and bikes

Hi there!

Here are some of the male themed cards I made yesterday.  I started them as a bit of an experiment.  I rarely stamp and emboss on black card so I wanted to see how this worked out.  I decided that cars and bikes would look good on black with either gold or silver embossing.  But I also wanted to try out different types of card. 

I had grabbed some glossy, pearlescent and matt black card to try.  The glossy card was the trickest.  I had to make sure there was a good covering of dust from my anti-static bag (brushing talc on the cards with a paint brush also works).  Both the pearlescent and matt black card worked well giving slightly different finishes.

I used papers from Kanban Industriana and Mechanica papers pads for the backgrounds and Spellbinders labels for the die-cut shapes.  As you can see there was one shape that suited the car and bike shape better and I also used the frame shape left by the die-cut a couple of times.

Hope you like them.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting

Update

Hi bloggers!

How has your weekend been?  I know I shouldn't complain but I am really feeling the lost hour today, I need all the time I can get my hands on.  I've been busy making cards and boxes for a craft event happening in Stowmarket this coming Friday.  It's called a Vintage Tea Party at the John Peel Centre, my first proper craft event so I have mixed feelings - excitement and a kind of yikes!  

I've got quite a few cards to take, but I have added some boxes I have decorated (pictures and separate post coming) and I have also made some male themed cards.

Also, just wanted to use this to also let you know how the hearts I made sold, they did really well.  Out of 18 at I made, there were 8 left.  I was going to try the technique out on the wooden boxes that I bought from QD, but then I had other ideas. 

I just can't help myself from trying something different.   Is this a failing?  I'm not sure.  I've read lots about finding my own niche and creating my own trademark style, but I do love variety.  Perhaps that is my niche.  It's early days yet and I do want to try lots of different techniques before I claim any sort of niche.

I'm going to be putting some more posts on today.  Have a look and see what you think of my efforts.

Until next time,

Keep crafting!

Hearts ... I'm seeing hearts!!

Hi there!

I have been painting and stamping and embossing most of last weekend to get these hearts ready for sale.  It's been great fun digging about in my stamps stash looking for stamps that might work and then practicing designs on heart shapes drawn on copy paper with my versa mark black ink pad. 

As before, I used emulsion paints from some tester pots I had and then stamped using clear versa mark ink and then used white / gold / silver embossing powder. 

These creations are now up for sale in the cafe situated next to the charity I work for.  There's not much time until Mothers' Day, so I hope they sell well.  I need to get more organised with my planning and work a lot more in advance.   

Next up is a craft fair event in Stowmarket on 30th March at the John Peel Centre.  I've got some wooden boxes (the ones you can find in the discount stores - I found mine in QD) that I have painted and I might just do some stamping and embossing on them. I think I could be addicted to this technique now! It looks so pretty and it is very simple.

But I do want to try other methods too.  I am always looking to increase my technique repertoire (is there such a thing? - more importantly - have I spelt it right?)

Anyway watch this space to see how I get on!!

Happy crafting.